The midfielder had struggled to overcome the problem this week but just as things were looking rosier in training on Saturday, fever struck again.

"Jermaine had a high fever on Wednesday and Thursday," explained Martin after the 2-2 draw at the Lane. "We got him on antibiotics and he trained on Saturday because I wanted to push him and he said he felt great.

"But he then had fever again on Saturday night and Sunday morning so I couldn't play him. I couldn't put him on the bench either."